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Heathrow plots UK pre-construction hubs as part of its £16bn expansion

London airport Heathrow has unveiled an ambitious plan to spread the economic benefit of its imminent expansion across the UK with the development of new logistics hubs which could see much of the new terminal built off-site.

In an announcement this morning, Heathrow’s Chief Executive Officer, John Holland-Kaye, revealed that the airport would be hunting for four new off-site logistics hubs across the UK, where components for its expansion programme could be pre-assembled elsewhere before being transported in loads to Heathrow.

It is a practice that is becoming increasingly common in the housebuilding industry, but Heathrow claims this would be the first time the approach has been attempted with a major infrastructure project.

According to the airport, the plans could serve to boost the construction sector UK-wide and deliver up to £15bn outside of London by 2020.

Heathrow argues that the off-site approach will help to make programme delivery more efficient, driving down costs and lowering the environmental impact of the massive expansion effort by consolidating component deliveries into as few lorry journeys as possible.

At a meeting of council leaders and figures from the construction industry, Holland-Kaye said: “The global construction industry is set to be worth £15 trillion by 2025 – that’s a huge prize that Britain deserves a bigger share of and Heathrow can help.

“We want to use Heathrow expansion to not only upgrade Britain’s infrastructure, but cultivate a new world-leading sector and drive growth across the whole country.

“Boosting off-site construction will help make expansion more affordable and environmentally friendly and give Britain a lasting legacy of expertise that it can sell around the world – helping Britain lead the pack in global construction.”

Heathrow is now inviting applications from UK communities to argue their case to support a logistics hub, with a list of potential sites set to be announced later this year.